Luke Rocks Kindergarten

The prospect of Luke starting Kindergarten this year nearly gave me an ulcer. I had no idea what to expect, given frequent and disconcerting statements like these:

"Why'd you have to go and sign me up for Kindergarten? Why can't I just wait until first grade?"

"Letters are stupid. I'm not going to learn the alphabet."

Then to complicate things, we changed schools last minute. Back to School Night at the school where he was initially enrolled was so underwhelming that it became Back to the Drawing Board Night for us. After some finagling, we were able to get him enrolled at Jack's school and arrange a carpool. All this took time, which meant that he would be starting two weeks late.

So we sent him off with none of the first-day fanfare, which at our school involves a lot of crying, photo-crazy parents. Maybe this was for the best. "There is no way you are going to get a picture," he informed me when he sensed that I was perhaps thinking of reaching for the camera.

When he arrived home after the first day, I gathered up all my courage and prepared for the moment of truth. "How was school?" I asked.

"Great!"

Luke has never responded in the affirmative in his life, even when we asked him if he wanted to go to Disneyland.

Then commenced the tall tales: "I was so good today that my teacher bought me an otter pop" and "We made blueberry pie in class." Fortunately I had Jack to consult on the probability of his reports, which we concluded were 100 percent bogus.

I admit this did initially make me worry about what Luke might be telling the teacher about us. But then one day he came home wearing two different tennis shoes. I gasped and stared: "You wore two different shoes to school?"

"What's the big deal? I couldn't find the match," he replied.

I decided then to free myself from any further worry about what the teacher thought of me. Any reputation I may have had was already shot.

Now a month into school, Luke's blossoming has been a miracle to behold. He brings me his homework because he's proud to be old enough to have it, asks to do flashcards, pretends to read books, hears letter sounds everywhere, and draws letters in the sand. We have a lot of growth ahead, but school is just the inspiration he needed. The best part for me is hearing Jack and Luke laugh about a moment they shared at school together.

Oh, and by week two, I was allowed to get this picture. We'll pretend it was his first day.